(a) Technical Field
The present invention relates to a technique for improving a mileage through estimation of aerodynamic force on a vehicle to improve the mileage by adjusting the aerodynamic force received when the vehicle is being operated and adjusting the distance between the vehicle and a vehicle traveling in the front thereof. The illustrative embodiment of the present invention also improves driver convenience and driving stability by providing aerodynamic force information to a vehicle control device and a driver.
(b) Background Art
In recent years, oil prices have begun to rise and therefore have affected the marketability of certain vehicles in the eyes of consumers. Therefore, a vehicles associated gas mileage is one of the primary vehicle selection criteria for consumers when selecting a vehicle, in addition to design and performance. The mileage of a vehicle is a ratio of a driving distance per unit fuel of the vehicle. If the vehicle has a higher gas mileage, the vehicle can travel a longer distance with less fuel.
Therefore, companies that manufacture vehicles are exerting steady effort in technological development for improving the gas mileage of their vehicles. In fact consumers have become so concerned about gas mileage that some consumers have also improved their gas mileage by modifying driving habits and reducing the weight of the vehicle.
Wind velocity and direction, and the resulting resistance have a large influence on riding and handling (R&H) safety as well as the on the vehicle's associated gas mileage. However, there is currently no system that provides aerodynamic information applied to a vehicle body.
FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram showing a vehicle environment control system.
Referring to FIG. 1, the vehicle environment control system includes a road environmental measuring unit 1 that measures road environment data associated with insolation, the direction of the wind, a wind velocity, temperature, humidity, noise, and atmospheric pollution of a road and transmits the measured road environment data to a remote device/server in real time through various known wireless methods. A central server unit 2 receives the measured road environment data from the road environment measuring unit 1, converts and processes the corresponding data, and transmits the converted and processed data to individual vehicles. Furthermore, a vehicle environmental control unit 3 that is installed in each of the individual vehicles and is configured to control the intensity of illumination, sound, degree of air purification, and temperature/humidity in the vehicle based on the received road environmental data received from the central server unit 2 in real time.
However, system described above controls an environment in the vehicle which travels on a road by measuring environmental data around the road and is not associated with measurement of aerodynamic force on the outside the vehicle body depending on the travelling of the vehicle. Furthermore, the above described systems does not take actions in response to the environmental data received that actually improves the gas mileage and the driving stability of the vehicle based on aerodynamic force data which is received.